I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to surgical implants and, more particularly, to textile-based implants for surgical implantation and related methods of manufacture and use.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
Surgical implants exist for myriad clinical needs, including (by way of example only) spine surgery to treat diseased or damaged intervertebral discs. Increasingly this treatment involves replacing all or part of the disc with a prosthesis. Disc prostheses based on either articulating metal plates or metal end plates supporting a polyethylene spacer are now in clinical use. These mechanical total disc replacements help to reduce the loss in spinal mobility and the degeneration of adjacent discs commonly associated with fusion.
While mechanical total disc replacements are a great improvement over fusion, some surgeons would rather use non-mechanical motion preserving implants. Previously there has been developed a textile-based total disc replacement having a textile-based core provided in a textile retaining jacket. Such an implant is described in commonly owned and co-pending International Patent Application PCT/US2008/060944, filed Apr. 18, 2008 and entitled “Textile-Based Surgical Implants and Related Methods,” the entire contents of which are incorporated into this disclosure. The textile-based implant is advantageous in that it allows tissue ingrowth and is generally compliant and therefore is capable of restoring disc height and preserving the motion of the spinal unit. While such textile-based motion preserving spinal implants show great promise, there is still room for improvement.
The present invention is directed to improving textile-based implants, including but not limited to textile-based motion preserving spinal implants.